January 29, 2016

"... leading the entire Republican pack in Twitter mentions throughout the first half of the debate.... Trump was by far the most-searched-for candidate on Google during the first half of the debate, at one point outpacing the second-most-searched-for candidate, Rubio, by nearly four-to-one, according to Google Trends data."

By comparison, two of the cable channels that showed parts of Trump's event, CNN and MSNBC, had about a quarter of Fox's audience combined.

Yeah, but savvy people watched on C-SPAN, where you could actually watch the event, not just parts, so that comparison is pretty weak. And there have been 6 other debates, 5 of which had household ratings from 8.9 to 15.9. (The 6th was on Fox Business Network and had 7.4.)

Trump is into Reenactments of historical leaders. Last night he reenacted Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. This maybe more of his New York Values coming directly out of Broadway. But Reenactment of Cruel Neutrality is not on his play list.

The real Trump Twitter account re-posted a circulating social question about how can Hillary Clinton satisfy the country when she can't satisfy her husband? It got taken down pretty quickly, and the Trump campaign blamed it on one of the handlers of Trump's social media platforms.

True to form, I haven't seen much by way of an apology from Trump, and there's been no naming of the individual who did it, and no word from the Trump campaign about any firing. All of which leaves open the possibility that Trump himself did it, and subsequently thought better of it.

I refuse to go cellular. They screw the consumer. You have to buy a ‘plan’ in order to get a good deal on a cellular phone. I’ll reconsider if they ever offer a better consumer model. Also, I do not want to be available to each and every caller 24/7. I want to be able to get away from the phone. So … no, thank you anyway. I’ll make do with my old fashioned landline.

And I feel no need for a tablet or laptop; my cheap Acer desktop PC does just fine for my needs. And, as with cellphones, I do not feel the need to be computing 24/7. Just stuff I would have to lug around everywhere I go.

I am the same way with social media. For me Facebook entries are not good substitutes for face to face relationships. I do not do Facebook, Twitter or any of the others. I want to see and touch my friends and relations. If that’s not feasible I’ll settle for a phone call because I can at least hear their voice in real time. I do not want to be tethered to my electronics.

No mention of the Trump Twitter disaster last night? The real Trump Twitter account re-posted a circulating social question about how can Hillary Clinton satisfy the country when she can't satisfy her husband? It got taken down pretty quickly, and the Trump campaign blamed it on one of the handlers of Trump's social media platforms.

True to form, I haven't seen much by way of an apology from Trump …

A lot of folks seem to be experiencing apology withdrawal since Trump happened upon the political scene. Which gets me to wondering: Have any of the candidates apologized for anything?

I think the answer to the commentor’s discomfort is a strong dose of Laslo Spatula.

The NSNBC/CNN ratings matter because Trump and his Trumbag minions had made such noise about Roger Ailes' fatal error. Losing Trump would tank Fox ratings and cost them millions in ad revenue. But Fox ratings were up over the most recent Trump-stained debate, advertisers ecstatic, Megyn Kelly vindicated to continue her streak as cable's most-watched program.

Losers? Trump, who now claims ratings were never important. CNN, being the house on a trend that was already fading. And the Trumbag minions, who saw their God bleeding from his wherever.

Yes, I saw her at the center seat at the moderator’s table. I wonder how Baier and Wallace, two very distinguished journalists, feel about playing second fiddle to Kelly? I think Ailes is grooming her for higher office – maybe taking over the anchor spot from Baier? Taking down Trump sure would have been a career highlight for Kelly, would have given her that elusive gravitas so essential for serious-minded talking heads. Too bad about that. She had to settle for the lesser lights of Cruz and Rubio:

… Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were confronted with video montages of their past statements on immigration, putting them each on the defensive about a contentious issue that has been elevated to new heights in the Trump era.

http://tinyurl.com/jy7cr3g

Here’s hoping the commentor’s choice is neither Cruz nor Rubio since I think the montage helped Trump by making Trump’s two main competitors look very bad. It’s what Kelly and Ailes had cooked up special for Trump but when you are a thirsty vampire any throat is good. Especially when there’s the career of Fox’s new star to be advanced.

I didn't see any proof that Trump on Twitter got anywhere close to the audience of the cable channels. The world is not made up of Twitter followers - many of us would not waste our time on any social media outlet.

But you gotta believe! Because the Drive-By-Media must forever twist the news in order to control the population of populist lemmings - until the weakest of GOP candidates is facing Hillary in the general election.

@grackle said...I refuse to go cellular. They screw the consumer. You have to buy a ‘plan’ in order to get a good deal on a cellular phone. I’ll reconsider if they ever offer a better consumer model. Also, I do not want to be available to each and every caller 24/7. I want to be able to get away from the phone. So … no, thank you anyway. I’ll make do with my old fashioned landline.

Cell phones can be as cheap as you want them to be and they provide the convenience of taking the phone wherever you go. My service is based upon usage plus $6 per month per phone. First I block text messages and use the service only for talk, although data services are available whenever I need help or need directions - and my phone on average costs me less than $20. I dropped my land line freeing up the number for my Android. Yeah, you have to buy a phone but it doesn't have mega-gimmicks and it doesn't have to be new.

Has anyone proposed a new format for these non-debates? Given less than a few percent of your citizens engage there’s little education and mostly theater with most reporting filtered through the MSM’s memes of the day. What do other countries do? You could change these behaviors once the establishment is out of the way. Perhaps a crowd sourced list of questions, a form of Reditt’s AMA, where a questioner uses their credit card to pose a question, say ten dollars a question or upvote, with the proceeds going to some post debate chosen by lottery charity. The use of credit cards with unique billing addresses mostly insures unique participation and minimizes double voting. Publish these questions a month before the debates and give everyone, not just recognized candidates, an opportunity to study and answer in advance of debates, and devalue the current advantage that accrues to verbal acuity. Consider why orchestras now place auditioning candidates behind a curtain. The importance of the public debate diminishes but the theater is improved by using a collegiate format with candidates required to present both sides of the argument, demonstrating their command of a topic and their biases, good and bad, as well as their character. Use a countdown clock for the time allocated to each position to encourage concise and ordered statements. It’d be wonderful if my government set an example but we’re even further behind your own industrial age practices. The advertising proceeds could also be shared with previously chosen by lottery charity. Sadly smoke-filled-rooms of those with the most to win and lose work surprising well with good to great results as often as arranged marriage. Though having your press elite more often than not choose the victor as happens for you is the least democratic of all outcomes. Which assumes, a big assumption I know, that you’d like to be able to claim with a straight face that you meet Lincoln’s goal of governing with the consent of the governed. The current debates don’t merit even a small bag of popcorn. “Gotcha! Isn’t even good burlesque. Wonder if the millennials find all this revolting? I think we misjudge their intellect and impatience. Especially those sleeping in their grandparent's basement along with their parents. To listen to the leftists not talk about the 90 milling underemployed is to laugh.